Camping is a popular activity throughout the United States and many other parts of the world, and one of the quintessential activities of camping is sitting around a campfire. Some campers cook over their fires, while others roast marshmallows or just sit and talk. One very common way to make a campfire is to put dry paper in place, top the paper with kindling or small pieces of dry wood, then put larger pieces of wood on top. Once campers have done that, they can light the paper and, if all goes as planned, the paper will light the kindling which, in turn, will set the larger pieces of wood on fire. Over time, as the fire burns down, campers can add more wood to the fire to keep it burning.
However, in many parks, patrons are forbidden from gathering wood to burn in their fires, or there is little or no wood to be found. The stores at many campgrounds sell bundles of wood, but it is often only enough for a small fire, thus necessitating the purchase of several bundles. Often the wood in the bundles is all of a similar size, i.e., there is no kindling or small wood pieces, which are useful in getting the fire started, thus making it difficult to start the fire.
An additional difficulty in many areas of the US is that, usually due to insect infestations or disease, some areas are under quarantine, and it is not permitted to transport wood from those areas. Thus, depending on where they are coming from, campers may not be able to bring in their own firewood. It can be difficult to determine whether a quarantine exists in any given area, so campers may not be sure until they arrive at a campground whether they can bring in their own wood.
Building a campfire may be difficult and time-consuming. If the weather has been rainy or damp, it can be very difficult to find dry wood or even dry kindling to start the fire. And paper, which is often used to help start fires, may not be available.
Many products have been invented to make it easier and faster for campers or others to make and use campfires. The Portable Fused Campfire, U.S. Pat. No. 5,743,248, has a trapezoidal framework formed from wood pieces in graduated sizes, with a waterproof cover. However, this campfire uses wood which, due to quarantines, may not be able to be transported from certain areas. Similarly, the Self-Lighting Firewood Stack with Handle, U.S. Patent Application 2009/0159073, uses logs and thus users could run into issues with the wood quarantine areas with this product also. Additionally, this campfire uses wood that is all of a similar size, rather than a mix of wood sizes, and relies on an ignitable starter material cone to start the fire.
Both the Artificial Campfire disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 6,044,836 and the Portable Artificial Campfire in U.S. Pat. No. 5,901,697 have artificial logs, a burner and a fuel source, so these are not wood-burning campfires, which is what many campers want. The Ready-to-Use Campfire disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,967,769 consists of a container filled with paraffin wax, mineral spirits and hardwood chips. Although this fire has hardwood chips in it, these will burn differently from larger wood pieces. Additionally, the container does not burn up, and must be disposed of.
There are numerous portable firepits, camping stoves, and portable fireplaces but these generally don't include the wood necessary for a fire. They often are geared mainly toward cooking rather than simply for campfires.